Lightweight Business Laptop

[Grimbold]

I'm just about to replace a big, heavy, business laptop that's 8 years old. I use a desktop in my home office. So the laptop is all about what I take on the road. I would like it to be light, strong, and reasonably future-proofed. 14" screen should be fine. Emphasis again on light weight.

Main uses:
Taking it to client sites to show PPT presentations as part of my training repertoire. [Should I still therefore try to hang on to a VGA port or will it limit my choice? Definitely need HDMI]

Office work overnight away from home - MS office, Gmail etc.

Fallback machine for Zoom sessions - I present professionally online, teaching classes [good definition webcam] by sharing screens, running breakout groups etc. [So sometimes Webex, MS Teams, Adobe Connect etc too]. Usually use a USB headset, so onboard speakers and mic probably don't have to be top end.

What spec would you recommend? Apart from the Zoom work, I imagine what I do is pretty undemanding. My outgoing machine is i5 with a graphics card and 8mb of RAM. Was possibly OTT?

I don't want to spend a lot for the sake of it - so it would be helpful to hear views on what I really need to budget.

cheers,

Nick.

 

[SpyderTracks]

VGA doesn't actually exist anymore on laptops, it's all HDMI and Display Port. That's not to say you still can't connect to a VGA port, just means you'd have to get an active adapter to convert from digital HDMI to analogue VGA. We'll talk about this later on and I'll give you some links if you need them.

Have you got a ballpark upper end budget? Most of the chassis are brand new, I'll post something at the cheaper end to give you an initial idea and we can go from there.

This model is the Lafite Pro 14", reason for choosing is it's currently in stock, it has a full 1080p IPS (Higher quality) screen. I've kept it to an i5 processor, but for longevity, I would always choose an i7, it's got a 1MP front facing camera over the usual 720p webcams found in laptops.

Physical specs are:
322mm x 216.8mm x 16.5mm
Weight: 990g

Connectivity specs:
1 x USB 3.1 Port (Type C), 1 x USB 3.1 Port, 1 x USB 3.0 Port
DOESN'T have an ethernet port, you will find this is the case on a lot of modern notebooks

Display outputs:
1 x HDMI, 1 x DP 1.2 via USB-C (you can use this display over USB-C with various docks you can find on places like amazon. NOTE, this is NOT Thunderbolt)

Battery Life up to 12 hours (I'm sure it will be less than this in real world use, but it's still a larger battery for this form factor)


Chassis & Display
Lafité Pro Series: 14" Matte Full HD IPS LED (1920 x 1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor i5-10210U (1.6GHz, 4.2GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
8GB DDR4 2666MHz SOLDERED
Graphics Card
INTEL® HD GRAPHICS (CPU Dependant) - 1.7GB Max DDR4 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 65W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Figure 8 UK Power Cable
Battery
1 x Lafité Battery 73WH
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 1 x USB 3.1 PORT + 1 x USB 3.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
LAFITÉ PRO SERIES SINGLE COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Chassis
Clevo L141CU (i5-10210U, FHD 60Hz N7, 8GB, Blank KB)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days

Price: £875.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/lafite-pro-14/qaY047DT9d/

 

[Grimbold]

Thank you - this looks great - particularly on weight. Very grateful for your time and thought on this. If I wanted to bring it in under £800 [inc VAT] - including a 1yr Office 365 subscription - is there anything I could realistically shave? Or would that start to defeat the purpose? i.e. am I being unrealistic about budget?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thank you - this looks great - particularly on weight. Very grateful for your time and thought on this. If I wanted to bring it in under £800 [inc VAT] - including a 1yr Office 365 subscription - is there anything I could realistically shave? Or would that start to defeat the purpose? i.e. am I being unrealistic about budget?

Actually managed this which is the non pro model which has some trade off's but also some gains, and this includes Office365 in the spec:

Physical properties:
329.8mm x 225mm x 18.8mm
Weight: 1.40Kg

Connectivity:
DOES have a full size ethernet port
1 x Thunderbolt Port (USB-C), 2 x USB 3.1 Ports

Display outputs:
1 x HDMI, 1 x Mini Display Port

Also has a 1MP webcam


Chassis & Display
Lafité Series: Aluminium Chassis: 14" Matte Full HD IPS LED (1920 x 1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor i5-10210U (1.6GHz, 4.2GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEL® HD GRAPHICS (CPU Dependant) - 1.7GB Max DDR4 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x Lafité Series 40W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery
Lafité Series 3 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (36WH)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT PORT (USB-C) + 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS
Keyboard Language
LAFITÉ SERIES SINGLE COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
Microsoft® Office 365 Home Premium (12 Month Subscription - Digital Key)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Chassis
Clevo N141CU (i5-10210U, FHD IPS, 60Hz N7, Thunderbolt)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days

Price: £800.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/lafiteIV-14/WRmmyxa7kT/

 

[Grimbold]

That's brilliant. Thank you!

 

[Grimbold]

Have now ordered that spec. Thanks again.